The Next Chapter in the Converged Supercore

It's rare that a technology provider has the opportunity to create a new product category, but that's exactly what Juniper achieved with the PTX platform.

Back in 2011, when Juniper defined the vision of the Converged Supercore, it was to address some big problems facing our service provider customers. Of course traffic continues to grow rapidly and that impacts all parts of the network. But with the explosion of mobility -- meaning people accessing information from anywhere -- and the evolution of the cloud, the variability of traffic was also increasing.

While others approached these problems by incrementally improving traditional core routers, Juniper attacked the problem with a new and innovative approach. We converged packet and transport, IP and optical, and the power of multiple networks into one at the core. The answer wasn’t to throw more power-hungry boxes at the problem – it was to optimize the silicon and the systems to create the next generation core.

In many industries, breakthroughs are achieved by focusing on a few functions, and optimizing them really well. This simple, yet, powerful concept, was the basis for the Converged Supercore. Juniper recognized that the opportunities to optimize core architectures lay in building purpose-built silicon, systems and software, engineered from the ground up.

Just a year ago, when Juniper rolled out the first fruits of this vision with the PTX5000 the response from our customers around the world was resounding. With the unparalleled advantages of space, density and power, came the added benefit of reduced deployment times of a few months – down from the traditional 12-to-18 month cycle. This is vital because our customers’ place value on rapid time to deployment.

Juniper’s goal for the PTX product family has always been to drive the benefits of the Converged Supercore to the broadest set of customers. Today, as we introduce the PTX3000 – the newest member of the PTX family – I am even more confident in our ability to enable a wide variety of customers to reap the benefits of the Supercore innovation.

The PTX3000 is particularly suited for smaller cores and metro cores because of its form factor. It's less than a foot deep. It fits into environments and locations where a traditional IP core router would not. It provides transport-level resiliency and performance – an important first step towards full packet-optical convergence.

Metro Networks are growing so rapidly, that much of the complexity and scale in a metro core network mirror the IP core. But the power challenges are more acute, and space is at a real premium. Colocations and Central Office were often built years ago, before the Internet and mobility were driving infrastructure decisions.

It is in this context that I find some of the PTX3000 characteristics stunning. One measure of efficiency is how much traffic can be driven with 1KW of power. The PTX3000 can do 1Tbps – up to 3x better than competing platforms while requiring one-sixth the real estate of the other large routing vendors in the marketplace.

I often get asked, “Well if it is the smallest, densest and most power-efficient system, then where is the tradeoff?” There is none! The PTX has been built for packet-transport and that’s the advantage of optimizing on an application and driving meaningful innovation around it. And, yes, it can deliver transport-level performance on latency and failover times, and it has the densest 100G coherent technology as well!!

I believe that packet-based transport infrastructure has finally arrived. What do you think? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

I think it's really important that you maintain synergy & feature parity between the PTX and ACX platforms as much as possible. They're both basically the same thing (just implemented at different scales) & MPLS service providers must be able to offer an identical service to customers regardless of which box it terminates on.

Thanks Blake! We are absolutely thinking about the PTX and ACX as part of an end-to-end solution based on seamless MPLS. Goal is to harmonize and simplify operations across network layers and extend the benefits of MPLS without additng cost and complexity.

Well i see the concept of a converged-supercore has been taken and explained very well by Juniper, however, i wanted to understand how efficient and easy will it be to migrate from an existing traditional IP CORE network to a converged supercore network.

I see around there are service providers who dont want to invest in something new, rather they want to converge and utilize the existing infra. in the best possible way.

Thanks for your interest and your question. We have had great success migrating different types of networks to a Converged Supercore architecture. While most networks run MPLS today there are several IP only networks for which we have developed a full migration and growth strategy. Our approach typically starts with full network analysis and modeling in order to understand and explain the benefits of the PTX approach. Of course, we also have our trusted T and MX series products for implementing a full-IP core solutions.

Prior to Juniper acquisition, Ankur was the Founder and CEO of Contrail Systems Inc - a pioneer in standards based network virtualization and scale-out networking software. Ankur has over 15 years of experience in building world-class networking products and leading high performance teams. Prior to Contrail, Ankur served as Chief Technology Officer and VP of Engineering at Aruba Networks, where he played critical roles in the rapid expansion of team, products, and global businesses. Before Aruba, Ankur helped drive Juniper’s initial entry into and expansion of the Ethernet Switching market. Ankur received his MSEE from Stanford University & BSEE from the University of Southern California.

I am an experienced leader in the Information Experience (iX) industry. For over 20 years, I've led information organizations at Juniper, Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle to deliver quality technical documentation and information products to customers and partners across the globe.

Bob Dix currently serves as the Vice President of Government Affairs & Critical Infrastructure Protection for Juniper Networks. During his career, he has served in senior leadership roles in industry and government, including serving as Staff Director for the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census during the 108th Congress.
He represents Juniper on the Industry Executive Point of Contact for the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee ( NSTAC ), where he chaired the Cybersecurity Collaboration Task Force in 2009. He served as Chair of the Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council ( IT SCC ) from 2008 – 2010 and currently remains a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Dix was elected in May, 2011 as Chair of the Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security ( PCIS ). He also serves on the National Security Task Force for the U. S. Chamber of Commerce.
He is a member of the AFCEA Cyber Security Committee and Chairs the Supply Chain Assurance Subcommittee for TechAmerica. Additionally, Dix has actively worked to insure and coordinate private sector participation and collaboration with the National Exercise Program, intended to test our nation’s preparedness and resiliency. He served as Chair of the National Private Sector Working Group for National Level Exercise 2011 and 2010.
In 2007 and 2009, Dix was honored with a prestigious Federal 100 Award, and was recognized in March, 2010 as the recipient of the annual FCW Industry Eagle Award.
Dix also served as a local government elected official in Northern Virginia for 12 years and in his spare time coaches AAU/Travel girls basketball.

Jennifer Blatnik is vice president of cloud, security and enterprise portfolio marketing at Juniper Networks with focus on enterprise deployments of security, routing, switching, and SDN products, as well as cloud solutions. She has more than 20 years of experience helping enterprises solve network security challenges. Before joining Juniper, Jennifer served multiple roles at Cisco Systems, Inc., including directing product management for security technologies aimed at small to medium enterprises, as well as supporting managed services, cloud service architectures and go-to-market strategies. She holds a B.A. in Computer Science from University of California, Berkeley.

Jerry oversees all aspects of OpenLab which serves as a catalyst to spark the development of new innovative software applications or solutions that leverage the power of SDN/network programmability and intelligence. OpenLab is unique within Juniper and with its polished facility, globally accessible lab, and educational programs – such as the SDN “hackathons,” it serves as a tool for customer, partners, and academia. Prior to this position, Jerry led the development, management and marketing of the company’s strategic partnerships for video/unified communications, optical networking, and content/media delivery. In addition to handling the day-to-day oversight of the partnerships, he established new cross-partner go-to-market processes to drive and manage joint field opportunities. Before joining Juniper, Jerry led the Lucent Technologies application hosting/service provider marketing organization. He has over 25 years of experience in the data networking field with a focus on strategic alliance development, marketing, and technical field support. Jerry possesses a BS degree in Computer Science from St. John’s University in New York. He is active as a Juniper ambassador within the technology and academic community which includes advisory board positions with both NJIT and Rutgers in New Jersey.

Jonathan Davidson is executive vice president and general manager, Juniper Development and Innovation (JDI). In this role, he is responsible for driving strategy, development, and business growth for Juniper's entire portfolio including routing, switching, and security, as well as for the ongoing evolution of silicon technology and the Junos operating system.
Prior to his current position, Davidson was senior vice president and general manager for Juniper’s Security, Switching and Solutions Business Unit (S3BU). In this role, he was responsible for leading innovation, growth and product development in data center, campus, branch, and cloud.
Davidson joined Juniper in 2010 as vice president, Product Line Management for the Edge and Aggregation Business Unit where he was responsible for the product lifecycle management, strategy, implementation, solutions and go-to-market activity for a range of leading edge routing product families, such as the E, M and MX Series.
Before joining Juniper, Davidson had a 15-year career in various leadership positions at Cisco.

Mike Marcellin is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, leading the global marketing team responsible for marketing Juniper’s product and services portfolio and stewarding the brand, driving preference for Juniper in the market, training our partners and account teams, and developing a differentiated information experience for our customers. Before joining the global marketing organization, Marcellin led business strategy and marketing for Juniper’s industry-leading portfolio of high-performance routing, switching and security products.
Prior to joining Juniper in 2010, Marcellin served as Vice President of Global Managed Solutions for Verizon, where he oversaw product development and marketing of its managed IP networking, hosting, security and IT solutions for businesses around the world. He also served as Vice President of Global Product Marketing for Verizon Business, executive director of Verizon Business’ IP and Ethernet portfolio as well as leading the company’s eCRM marketing division. Marcellin began his career with MCI in 1994.
Marcellin is a Board Member for the Telecommunications Industry Association and a Board Member of US Ignite, an NSF-sponsored initiative. Marcellin holds two patents and was a Rodman Scholar at the University of Virginia, where he received a bachelor of science degree with distinction in systems engineering. He is based in Sunnyvale, California.

Paul Obsitnik is Vice President of Service Provider Marketing for Juniper Networks Platform Systems Division (PSD), responsible for the marketing of Juniper’s portfolio of high performance routing, switching, and data center fabric products to Service Providers globally. Paul's team is responsible for marketing strategy, product marketing, go-to-market planning, and competitive analysis worldwide for the Service Provider segment.
Obsitnik has extensive experience in marketing, sales and business development positions with a proven track record in creating technology markets. He has served in senior marketing and sales management positions at several companies including BridgeWave Communications, ONI Systems, NorthPoint Communications and 3Com.
Paul holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Electrical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Obsitnik is based in Sunnyvale, California.

Pradeep Sindhu founded Juniper Networks in February 1996, and has held several central roles in shaping the company. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer, and is responsible for the company's technical roadmap as well as day-to-day design and development of future products. He served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for eight months when he founded the company. During that time, he played a central role in the architecture, design, and development of the M40 router.

Rami Rahim is Chief Executive Officer of Juniper Networks and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Rahim was appointed CEO in November 2014.
Rahim began his Juniper career in early 1997, as employee No. 32, and worked as an engineer on Juniper’s first breakthrough product, the M40 core router. Rahim has progressed through a series of technical and leadership roles at Juniper, applying his engineering acumen to the design and development of Juniper’s industry-leading product portfolio.
He most recently served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Juniper Development and Innovation (JDI) organization, overseeing the company’s entire product and technology portfolio. His responsibilities included driving strategy, development and business growth for routing, switching, security, silicon technology, and the Junos operating system.
Other leadership positions held over the years include: Executive Vice President and General Manager of Platform Systems Division for routing and switching, Senior Vice President of the Edge and Aggregation Business Unit (EABU), and Vice President and General Manager of EABU.

As Chief Customer Officer, Vince Molinaro is responsible for driving the strategic and operational elements of the Sales, Marketing, Partners, Services and Support functions at Juniper Networks. He leads a global organization of more than 3,500 professionals that includes direct and indirect sales, systems engineering, advanced technologies and field operations.
Molinaro brings more than 25 years of professional experience in engineering, product management, marketing, sales and operations to his worldwide role. He joined Juniper in 2009 and led the strategy and go-to-market execution for the company’s global service provider business. He was named EVP, Worldwide Sales in 2013 before assuming his current role in February 2014.
Prior to joining Juniper, Molinaro held senior leadership positions at a number of technology companies including Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent and Internap Network Services. He has extensive domestic and international experience having lived and managed large organizations throughout Europe and the U.S.
Molinaro holds a bachelor of science degree in biomedical engineering from Boston University and a master of science degree in electrical engineering from University of Bridgeport. He is based out of the Juniper Networks facility in New Jersey, home of OpenLab, The Junos and SDN Center for Innovation.

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